Some of My Heroes Were Captured
An Apology to the Crew of the USS John S. McCain
I was a mere enlisted man, a military nobody in spite of my security clearance. But this nobody wishes to be among the first to apologize to the military nobodies who are assigned to crew the USS John S. McCain.
The ship was named to honor the grandfather and the father of the recently deceased senator from Arizona, both of whom were admirals who carried combat assignments. The senator was a graduate of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, and, no, it’s not true he graduated last in his class, a common libel circulated by his political enemies.
The younger McCain became a naval aviator, and by all accounts was something of a hot dog. This is common among the tail hook gang (says this Air Force veteran who served surrounded by Air Force hot dogs) because taking off and landing from an aircraft carrier at sea inserts an element of danger in addition to the danger that was already there, as Air Force and Army fliers will say in candid moments. Marines are, as always, in a class by themselves. They often depart from smaller ships on big helicopters or VTOL aircraft. Let’s not get started on how many Osprey crashes have brought how many Marines back to Delaware in flag-draped caskets.
